"O Thou the Most Lauded, the Most Holy, the Most Tender, the Most Bountiful! Remove our difficulties by Thy grace and bounty."

 

© Chuck Egerton 2024

"O Lord, my God! O Thou the Most Lauded, the Most Holy, the Most Tender, the Most Bountiful! Remove our difficulties by Thy grace and bounty. Thou art, verily, the All-Merciful, the All-Bountiful."

—Bahá’u’lláh

(Additional Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/575481039

"I am the royal Falcon on the arm of the Almighty. I unfold the drooping wings of every broken bird and start it on its flight."

CELEBRATING THE BIRTH OF BAHA'U'LLAH 

"I am the Sun of Wisdom and the Ocean of Knowledge.

I cheer the faint and revive the dead.

I am the guiding Light that illumineth the way.

I am the royal Falcon on the arm of the Almighty.

I unfold the drooping wings of every broken bird and start it on its flight."

Bahá’u’lláh 

"I am, I am, I am the Promised One!"

Shrine of the Bab, Mt. Carmel, Israel

"I am, I am, I am the Promised One! I am the One Whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at Whose mention you have risen, Whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of Whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily, I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word, and to pledge allegiance to My person."  

The Báb (God Passes By, p. 21)

We are celebrating the twin Holy Days of the Birth of the Báb and the Birth of Bahá'u'láh, Saturday November 2nd, and Sunday November 3rd

Mirza Husayn-‘Ali, later known as Baha’u’llah, “the Glory of God,” was born in 1817 in Tehran, the capital of Persia, now called Iran.

Two years later, in 1819, Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammad was born in Shiraz, a city in southern Persia. He later took the title, the Bab, meaning “the Gate.”

The Bab and Bahaʼu’llah are revered as central figures of the Bahaʼi Faith. Both are Manifestations of God in their own right. The lives and missions of the Bab and Bahaʼu’llah are inextricably linked. Together, these Divine Messengers are the twin Manifestations of God for this era.

In 1844, in Shiraz, at age 25, the Bab declared that He had been called by God to be humanity’s gateway to a new and glorious future. As one of God’s Divine Educators, the Bab established a new religion.  He called for the people to prepare for the coming of “Him Whom God shall make manifest,” another Divine Messenger Who would soon appear and initiate an era of global justice, unity, and peace. The Bab was an advocate of the poor. He supported the advancement of women, universal education, and the study of science—radical ideas in that time and place.

In April of 1863, Baha’u’llah announced that He was the Promised One foretold by the Bab and all of the Divine Messengers of the past. Baha’u’llah’s Mission was to spiritually re-awaken humanity and unite all the peoples of the world. Through Baha’u’llah God has released a fresh, far-reaching, creative spiritual energy into the world. Baha’u’llah’s teachings shed new light on God’s eternal relationship with humanity and offer a vision of infinite hope and healing.

Bahaʼu’llah wrote that His birthday and that of Bab “are accounted as one in the sight of God.” The Festivals of the Twin Birthdays or the Twin Holy Birthdays refers to two successive holy days in the Bahaʼi calendar that celebrate the births of these two central figures of the Bahaʼi Faith.

Their birthdays are observed on the first and the second day following the occurrence of the eighth new moon after the Baha’i New Year, which is called Naw-Ruz, and occurs on the first day of spring as determined in advance by astronomical tables using Tehran as the point of reference. This results in the observance of the Twin Birthdays moving, year to year, from mid-October to mid-November in the Gregorian calendar.

'We beseech God to enable thee to reach thy home. Verily, more merciful is He than all who show mercy."

 

© Chuck Egerton 2024

He is.

O thou who art present before My throne! I have heard thy cry and thy lamentation in thy separation from Me, and have grieved over what hath befallen thee in accordance with God’s inscrutable decree. We beseech God to enable thee to reach thy home. Verily, more merciful is He than all who show mercy.

—Bahá’u’lláh

(Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/897739116

"He is."

 

photo of frozen Greenland lake by Dina S. 

He is.

O thou who wert struck by the pain of separation after having attained thy goal! I am He Who doth not hesitate to create parting. I am He Who doth not fear to cause separation.

If thou wishest to know Me, know thou that I am He Who preventeth those who yearn after Me from attaining My holy presence and debarreth them from access to the seat of My throne. I am He Who consumeth the hearts of ardent lovers in the fire of separation and abandoneth them in the wilderness of the world. I am He Who answereth not when He is invoked and heedeth not when He is called to remembrance. I am He Who in His wealth heareth not the lamentations of the poor and in His glory regardeth not the weak and the wretched. Thus it is when I am seated on the throne of My name the All-Subduing.

But when I am established on the throne of My name the All-Merciful, I guide the wayward to the living waters of My presence and cause them to enter the paradise of reunion with Me, whence I shall never banish them. I am He Who admitteth the poor to the paradise of My wealth, and the weak beneath the tabernacle of My might, and the wretched to the city of Mine ancient glory. I am He Who answereth when He is invoked and remembereth when He is called to remembrance. From all eternity I have been the answerer of the prayers of the needy. I am He Who replieth ere He is petitioned and bestoweth gifts regardless of merit.

Such is My nature. I am He Who weepeth by reason of the tears of those who love Him, and Who draweth near unto those who approach Him. I have opened the portals of My grace unto all who are in heaven and on earth. Blessed are they that enter therein!"

(Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/969856770

"Open then thy lips in My name, the Opener. Move then thy tongue in My name, the Mover."

 

photo by artist Thomas Eakins 1884

"O thou who art the manifestation of My truth!

If thou art slumbering upon thy couch, lift up thy head; and if thou art seated, by the power of My name, arise; and if thou art standing, in thy yearning for My beauty, take flight; and if thou art in flight, through My sovereign might, ascend; and if thou art in ascent, by the majesty of My Cause, halt in the firmament of the Spirit. Open then thy lips in My name, the Opener. Move then thy tongue in My name, the Mover. Intone then My melodies and proclaim: O denizens of earth and heaven! By the one true God, verily, He Who is the Lord of Eternity hath appeared and shone forth above the horizon of creation through the power of His most lofty, His most exalted sovereignty."

—Bahá’u’lláh

(Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/114208718

"Spiritual souls will assuredly emerge from behind the veil of divine protection who will gather together the tokens and verses of God and put them into the most excellent order."

 

"It is the concern of the True One to reveal, and the concern of men to spread what hath been revealed. He will, verily, promulgate His Cause by the hands of His scattering and well-favoured angels. Spiritual souls will assuredly emerge from behind the veil of divine protection who will gather together the tokens and verses of God and put them into the most excellent order. This is His sure and irrevocable decree."

—Bahá’u’lláh

(Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh)
www.bahai.org/r/457295492